


we'll be alright / dunkirk

by anothergirlinlove (ObsessedWithBands)



Category: Dunkirk (2017)
Genre: British Military, Character Death, Depressing, Drama & Romance, Dunkirk, Emotional Hurt, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Gay, Gay Character, Gay Male Character, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Nazi Germany, SO, Sad with a Happy Ending, The Battle of Dunkirk, Why Did I Write This?, Will - Freeform, World War II, against, cry, much - Freeform, that, the, you - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 22:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17434454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedWithBands/pseuds/anothergirlinlove
Summary: A soldier who was pulled onto the ship grows frustrated, and pushes George onto the ground below deck.Peter watches him fall, knowing that their time together will soon come to a close.





	we'll be alright / dunkirk

**Author's Note:**

> I literally just watched Dunkirk for the first time today (1-15-19) and I ship them so hard :'(
> 
> I felt really sad after that soldier told Peter that George was dead, I knew in my heart that I should totally bring this to life on AO3 :') lol
> 
> read the notes at the end!!!!! and cry with me lol

May 30, 1940.

Peter walked onto the deck of the small boat, glancing back over his shoulder at the entrance to the lower deck. He had just locked the soldier inside the storage room full of the lifejackets, but there was still the unsettling feeling that he wouldn't stay in there for more than an hour. Peter walked around the center of the boat to where George was checking the ropes.

"We almost there?" Peter spoke. George shook his head slowly, tugging on a rope to check if it was still sturdy. Leaning against it, he faced Peter and moved a lock of dark hair out of his brown eyes.

"Your father said we still have about half a day out here."

"Ah."

Peter reached behind George and pulled on another rope, checking if it was still linked to the ship. George turned back to watch the waves, and Peter stepped closer to him. Both men knew that they would be reaching the area where all the soldiers were waiting soon enough, but the realization hit them. When their small boat reaches the shores, soldiers would start flocking to them...but the boat could only hold so many.

"You doing alright?" Peter asked George, noticing his dazed expression. George turned to him and then stared at his feet.

"I've just been...thinking. About...the world."

"What about it?"

"Every second we spend here is another second in which someone dies on that beach. More than one."

"That's..." Peter began. His voice trailed off, and then he looked away. George eyed Peter, looking over him and then placing his hand on his shoulder.

"You could tell me what's on your mind."

Peter nodded slowly, turning so his body faced George completely.

"That's why I didn't tell you that...I didn't want you to come with us. When you stepped onto this boat, I immediately thought about how we might not even be able to come back home. I don't want you to get hurt." Peter reasoned. George looked at him with sad eyes, stepping closer.

"I'll be alright, Peter. No matter what happens. If I'm with you, on this boat...I'll always be alright."

George turned to face the water once again, with Peter following suit. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter watched George's face.

 _I don't want to see you get hurt. Even though you're standing here, right in front of me...I feel like something is going to happen. I want to be able to see us all reach home...and then tell you that I love you_ , Peter thought to himself.

Suddenly, as if it was a coincidence, Peter and George began to hear a loud rattling sound. George glanced at Peter, motioning towards the lower deck. Peter immediately rushed to the top of the stairs, his eyes on the wooden door.

"Can you hear me? Let me out!" the soldier's voice made Peter nervous. He wasn't able to move...what would happen if he just stayed standing there? What would happen if he opened the door and let the soldier out?

"Father, he wants to come out!?!" Peter called to his father, who was steering the wheel of the boat. Mr. Dawson turned towards his son, his eyes widening.

"What, did you lock him in the room? For God's sake, let him out!" Mr. Dawson let go of the wheel and then moved to his son's side at the stairs. The two Dawson men stared at the door, which was shaking against the brass slider lock. The soldier continued to shout, but then after a few seconds, all was quiet. Peter walked down the stairs each step at a time, keeping his eyes on the lock. His father watched him as Peter stepped even closer to the door, then took a deep breath and opened it.

Peter stopped. The room was empty, except for the huge pile of lifejackets and a few ropes. _Where did he go?_ Peter walked inside the room and noticed a small opening in the ceiling, a way to get out onto the deck. As he moved through the hole, his father turned around and walked onto the deck.

"We...we're not going back. The boat is going in the wrong direction." The soldier stammered, his eyes dancing across the sea and onto Mr. Dawson's face. He was standing inside the captain's area, staring out the window. Mr. Dawson said nothing. Peter and George came up behind him, staring at Peter's father. The soldier glared in the same direction, then spoke again.

"Tell me why we're not going home. Tell me. Turn the boat around." His voice was strong...almost scary.

He still received no answer. Peter and George stared at each other, wondering what the soldier was going to do next. The hairs on the back of Peter's neck raised, and in the blink of an eye, the soldier was right behind his father.

"Answer me! I can't go back there! I can't--I just can't!" The soldier grabbed Mr. Dawson's shoulders and shook him, making him let go of the wheel. Peter stepped closer, reaching out to his father.

"HEY! Stop!" he shouted. Peter glanced at George, who had stepped backwards in reply. Mr. Dawson grunted, wrestling himself out of the soldier's strong grip. He understood that the soldier had been traumatized because of what he had experienced there on the beach, but he was determined to help as many soldiers as he could.

"We can't go back to that fucking place! Dunkirk is full of h-horrible--" the soldier continued to shout and yell at Mr. Dawson, starting to throw punches. Peter tried to wrap his arm around the soldier's shoulders and pull him back, but it was to the point where he was taking up all the space in that area because of his swinging arms. George shrunk back against the wall near the top of the stairs...

...but one of the soldier's blind punches collided with his shoulder.

Everything happened in slow motion.

Peter's eyes darted to George, whose heel slipped forward on the top stair. Mr. Dawson glanced at George, his hand outstretched. Peter continued to hold the soldier back, but all he could think about was George.

George wasn't able to grab onto anything before he fell _hard_ onto the floor of the lower deck. Peter shoved the soldier away with one final push, making him fall onto the floor. He raced down the stairs as fast as he could, placing his hand on George's shoulder. George whimpered softly, not knowing what else to do. A searing pain was slowly overpowering his brain...right near his brain.

"George, it's okay, I got you, it's okay," Peter said frantically, grabbing a nearby lifejacket and then going back to George. George's hands moved around in the air, as if he was looking for something to hold. Something to take his mind off of the pain. He continued to cry as Peter lifted his head up as gently as he possibly could, tucking the lifejacket's padding under his head and letting George roll onto his back.

Endless tears were going down George's face, and Peter helped him to dry the tears with a small blanket. George blinked his eyes several times, but then realized that whenever he did so, the pain got worse. George resigned to leaving his eyes closed. Peter took several deep breaths.

He wanted to help George so much, but he didn't know how. Peter wanted to heal George's head as fast as he could, but he _didn't know how_.

Up on the deck, the soldier stayed on the floor. _Now look what I've done_...he thought, hearing the wails and soft voices of the people below. He looked to his left, and saw Mr. Dawson return to the wheel with a solemn facial expression. Occasionally, Mr. Dawson would glance his way, and the amount of sadness he showed on his face was enough to make the soldier want to disappear.

He himself never wanted another person to be hurt because of him. Ever since he accidentally shot and killed one of his own people at the beach because he assumed that he was the enemy, he realized that he didn't want to feel anymore pain because of how horrible the world was.

\----

When night fell, and the sea around the boat was pitch-black, Peter decided to head below deck and check on how George was feeling.

Ever since he landed on the floor, he hasn't moved. George stayed still with his hands clasped and laying on his chest, continuously taking as deep a breath as he could take. Peter walked down the stairs to see that George's tears from earlier in the day had disappeared, and Peter sat down next to George on the wood floor. The brunette boy still had his eyes closed, since he was afraid that if he opened them, he would see his life flashing before his eyes again.

"Hey." Peter whispered, wanting to keep the peace. George let out a breath and then built up all his power. One eyelid opened, then the other. Peter's face was a few feet away from his own, and George was glad that he was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. When he opened his mouth, though, it took a little more power to actually speak. George tried to push the feeling of worry away, but when he actually spoke, the feeling was stuck in his mind.

"Hi." he said quickly. He let out another deep breath, and then let his breathing return to normal. Peter sighed, and then looked at the space around them.

"You good here, for the night?...I don't really know if I should move you or not." Peter spoke. George started to shake his head, and nearly cried out in pain. He bit his bottom lip so that Peter wouldn't have to hear his painful sob.

"N-no."

"Okay."

Peter placed his hand on George's shoulder, looking him over and wishing with all his heart that he would get better as soon as possible. After all, they were getting closer and closer to the beach as every second passed.

"The man's in the room again...I locked him back in there. And made sure he couldn't escape it again." Peter chuckled to himself. Seeing him laugh made George want to laugh with him. But then that would mean more pain...and more chances of seeing his life go away.

"Y-you...know why...I...went?" George said slowly, clenching his teeth while he spoke. Although the pain was starting up once again, George was determined to get himself together and talk to Peter. Peter faced him and made eye contact with him, unknowingly giving George more energy in order to have a conversation.

"No, why?"

"I...want to...help.

Men...are dying...every...day. And here...I am. Alive. Sold-diers...need to...go...home. They...all have families. They...fought for...their p-people. I want...t-to do...something for the world."

With every word, George felt his eyes begin to water. His voice grew shaky, and before he knew it, George had tears streaming down his face once again.

Peter looked away, then back at George. Peter absentmindedly reached out a hand towards George's face, touching his cheeks with the back of his right hand. His fingers wiped away developing tears. The back of his hand erased the wet tears on George's skin. Peter slowly erased the pain that George had to go through by being there for him. And George embraced every second of that moment.

But he was never prepared for what was going to happen next.

Peter didn't have a lot on his mind at the time, but when George began to talk as much as he could about how he felt, Peter's own thoughts about the severity of the war grew. The fact that there was so many things going on around their small, tiny boat in this huge world made him wonder where he was in his life.

 _Men on the beach are waiting to be evacuated right now, and here I am on a small boat. I could be going to my own home. I could be saving myself from the possibility of dying because of a bomb, a gunshot, an accident. Even more...I could be saving George from all this, too._ Peter thought.

A tear rolled down his cheek.

Then another.

George watched his face, wanting to reach up with his arm and hug Peter...and wipe away his tears like he had done for him.

"George..." Peter began.

Although he had so many things to say...

...although there were so many things to tell him right there and then...

Peter thought about the old saying...'actions speak louder than words'.

So Peter lowered his head towards George's.

Their lips met, and George felt a surge of energy go through his body. He turned his head so that they could get even closer, and Peter placed his left palm on the floor to the right of George's head so he could steady himself.

As they kissed, George could feel the pain from his skull trying to fight the energy that Peter was giving him, but George counteracted it by thinking in the present. George had enough energy to raise his right hand and place it on Peter's right shoulder, squeezing to show that he was supporting him.

When they had kissed long enough that they both needed air, Peter sat up once again and stared at George.

"It hurts, but...thank you." George spoke, his voice strong. Peter smiled softly, placing a kiss on George's cheek in reply.

"For what?" Peter whispered close to his ear. George turned his head towards Peter, a sharp stab of pain shocking his whole body. But, the pain didn't reach him mentally, because George found the energy to smile back at Peter.

"When you're here with me...when you talk to me...when you kissed me..." George breathed. Peter's heart beat faster.

"...all the pain goes away." George felt another tear go down his cheek as he finished his sentence. He stared wide-eyed at Peter, wanting to remember this moment forever. Peter leaned down to kiss him once again, his own tears landing on George's shirt.

George kept his eyes slightly open, looking over Peter's face while he kissed him.

Slowly but surely, the outlines of his vision began to get brighter. George's tears began to fall faster, making his vision even more blurry than it already was. The white color gradually overpowered the remaining objects in his sight, and the last thing he could clearly see was Peter moving back and giving him a smile with so much love in his eyes. When the only color he could see was white, George closed his eyes and felt the stream of tears going down his face and neck.

Peter thought that George was just beginning to feel tired, so he stood up slowly and grabbed a large blanket to put over him. George kept his eyes closed and felt Peter fix the blanket around him very gently, and then felt Peter's warm body line up next to him. George smiled softly, using his energy to show Peter how grateful he was for his presence.

 _There is no way I could tell you how much I love you...it would probably take up the rest of our lives_ Peter thought. He closed his eyes and found George's hand under the thin blanket, lacing his fingers between his and squeezing to let George know he was there...and that he was going to stay with him until the sun rose again.

When Peter was thinking, he failed to realize that he must have said his thoughts out loud, because George used up all his remaining strength to give him a reply.

"I...love y-you, too." George's soft voice almost made Peter start to cry for the third time that evening.

As the two men fell into a deep sleep with the movement of the rocking boat, they both knew that their time with each other would soon come to an end.

But at the moment...they also knew that they would always be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> So...this perfectly fits into the movie.
> 
> If you watched it, remember when the soldier then asked Peter, "Will he be alright?" and then Peter replied, "...yeah."?  
> I love how this perfectly fits into the movie, so much that I *almost* cried while writing this.
> 
> And if you haven't watched Dunkirk yet, for whatever reason...WATCH IT!!!  
> Besides the fact that it'll help you learn about history and all that sh--, it'll really make you realize how serious a war is and, of course, how real this ship is :)


End file.
